GRINNELL, Iowa – The Illinois College women's basketball team led much of the way until a fourth-quarter scoring drought allowed Grinnell College to escape with the come-from-behind, 62-56 win over the Lady Blues. The win by the Pioneers improved them to 4-7 (2-3 Midwest Conference), while the IC loss drops the team to 4-7 (1-4 MWC).
Early on, it looked to be Illinois College's days. The Lady Blues jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the first five minutes of the game behind eight points from
Brielle Greenleaf and four from
Sydney Lett. Grinnell eventually settled into the contest, however, and the first quarter ended with the Pioneers back level with IC at 14-14.
The game was still deadlocked, 19-19, when Illinois College went on a 9-2 run to take a 28-21 advantage with less than five minutes until halftime.
Madison Schoenfeld had four points during that run for IC and the Lady Blues would head to the break with a 31-26 advantage.
The opening basket of the second half was scored by Lett to increase Illinois College's lead to seven, but Grinnell kept it close and by the end of the third quarter, the Lady Blues' lead was down to just two, 46-44.
Grinnell then tied the score at 46-46 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but that was followed by layups from
Krista Bass and Greenleaf to give Illinois College a four-point lead with eight minutes to play. Following the Greenleaf bucket, Grinnell locked in on the defensive end and the Lady Blues would go more than six minutes without a point. By the time
Madi Peyton converted a three-point play with 1:35 remaining, the Pioneers had reeled off 11 unanswered points to take a 57-53 advantage.
In the final seconds, two free throws from
McKenzie Skaggs got Illinois College as close as three points, 59-56, but the Pioneers closed out the win with three free throws to seal it.
Greenleaf led Illinois College with 15 points and Lett added 13. Each of those two players added three assists for the Lady Blues. Skaggs pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Illinois College wraps up non-conference play in two weeks, coming back home to Sherman Gymnasium to face MacMurray College in a 2 p.m. tip-off on Dec. 30.
